


A Force I Can’t Run From

by The_Artist_Sylveon



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slightly Feral Byleth, Slow updates I’m sorry, background ships will be included, based on these what if Disney books I read, dimileth heavy, no beta we die like Glenn, not much of a time skip, slightly less feral dimitri, what if, what if byleth didn’t disappear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29502681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Artist_Sylveon/pseuds/The_Artist_Sylveon
Summary: Byleth has almost wrapped up her first year teaching the Blue Lion house at The Officers Academy. Right before the graduation, the Imperial Princess of the Adrestian Empire attacks the monastery where the academy is located as a declaration of war at the Church of Serios. After a harsh battle, Byleth along with her students retreat back to The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus to regroup. In a span of only a few days, she finds herself betrothed to the crown prince and former student Dimitri, accused of murder and treason, and sentenced to death along with Dimitri. Miraculously escaping death, the couple runs off into exile, navigating both themselves and their new way of life. With Dimitri caught in his desire for revenge and Byleth’s hatred for the empire and all the despair it has caused, their lives are almost nothing less of human.A year and a half later, the two discover the Monastery in ruins and build a resistance army to reclaim their fallen kingdom. However, the enemies will do whatever they can to stop them.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my second ever fic this time over Fire Emblem 3 Houses. This is still a work in progress and updates will be a little slow. This is cross posted on Wattpad as well! My user is the same there as it is here but without the underscores. Anyways, let’s get to it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: sorry if the formatting of the first few paragraphs are janky. Something was going wrong when formatting and I’m using mobile so I will try to fix it later.

It was hard to see in the dim lighting of the Holy Tomb, however, the students of the Blue Lion house could clearly see what shocking sight beheld them. They gasped and stared in disbelief.  
It couldn’t have been real, right?  
  
In front of them, the Flame Emperor, the one that has caused a handful of the problems the Academy and the Church of Serios had to face, was finally unmasked. They were none other than a student among them. Their identity was Edelgard von Hresvelg.

Out of all of the students of the Blue Lions, Dimitri was the most expressive when it came to his disbelief. He was laughing manically at the sight like he was crazy. To Byleth, the professor, she was both not surprised yet concerned for her friend. Dimitri had a special bond with Edelgard with them being step-siblings and to see her as the force that he believes caused the Tragedy of Duscur four years ago was a huge blow to his already unstable sanity.

“Is this some sort of twisted joke?!” He yelled at Edelgard and the Imperial soldiers that accompanied her. They didn’t say a thing, Edelgard only stared at Dimitri. One could easily piece together that she was irritated at the Blue Lions at foiling her plans.  
Dimitri readied his lance and stepped on the Flame Emperors mask, shattering it in hundreds of pieces. He slowly approached the Imperial Princess.

Byleth tried to stop Dimitri by putting a hand on his shoulder. “Dimitri, wait.” Byleth said. She was pushed slightly aside by Dimitri.

“Out of my way.” Was all he said to her. Byleth stood in shock. Dimitri was nothing but kind to her. This had to be serious for Dimitri to do a complete one-eighty in his behavior.  
“I’ve been looking for you.” Dimitri said to his step-sister. “I will take that head from your shoulders and hang it from the gates of Enbarr!” He charged towards Edelgard and her troops. The troops charged forward to protect their leader, however they were no match for Dimitri. He sliced through three of them at one time with his lance. He pushed others aside with his shoulder.

Dimitri threw his silver lance in the direction of Edelgard. It flew across the air and it was like time slowed down for a few seconds. The lance barely missed her head and grazed her shoulder. Even weaponless, Dimitri still was able to fight the soldiers due to his immense strength his crest granted him. He grabbed a solider by his face and crunched it, killing the solider in an instant.

  
Instead of the slight regret and remorse the young prince usually displays when having to kill others, he had a manic smile across his bloodstained face. All Byleth could do was watch in shock.

  
_This isn’t the Dimitri I know and love._ Byleth thought to herself. However, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She recalled Felix mentioning that ever since they had to quell a rebellion a few years back, Dimitri was always secretly psychotic. Dedue mentioned something similar too but she never really took them seriously. The incident in Remire and now here pieces everything together. Is this the true Dimitri?

  
While lost in her thoughts, another connection came to her. _Wait, if Edelgard is the Flame Emperor, then she had a role with killing my father…?_ Byleth felt a sudden rage build inside her. Something she has never felt before. (Well, she never really showed her emotions until becoming a professor.) Even though the killer was dead, she saw the Flame Emperor with her father’s assassins discussing the murder. Byleth remembered the hatred she had for the assassin for killing her father. It was building up inside her again. She gripped her sword tighter and charged at the unmasked emperor despite being mid conversation with Dimitri.

  
“You’ll… Pay… For… Jeralt’s… Death!” Byleth screamed, with her sword in hand. Edelgard turned to see the professor charging at her and quickly ordered her and her retainer, Hubert, to warp away to escape. Byleth didn’t stop herself and ran right through the purple warp particles that were left behind.

Once she did stop, she was breathing hard. She hasn’t felt this mad since the moment of Jeralt’s death. Anger, hatred, regret for not being able to save him, all of them flooded into Byleth after making the connection. She felt a large hand fall on her shoulder. She turned her head and saw Dimitri. “We weren’t able to defeat her.” Was all he said to her.

The statement went in one ear and out the next for Byleth. Instead, she was thinking about what has just transpired. Even she doesn’t know how to process it all. She only knew one thing, understanding how Dimitri felt. “I… Understand now.” Byleth softly said. Dimitri turned, both still irritated that he wasn’t able to defeat Edelgard and intrigued on what Byleth had to say.

  
“I-I think she had a role in killing Jeralt. Once I figured it out, I just snapped. Nothing but hate and rage remained. At first I thought your behavior there was rash but after making connections, it made sense. I understand. She was your step-sister. You two were close that one time you were together. It was only natural that you snapped at her actions.” Byleth said.

Dimitri put his free hand on her other shoulder. “Listen, we’ll kill that woman together. She has taken loved ones from us. We’ll get our revenge.” Dimitri vowed. Byleth nodded.

“Together.”

The two exited the Holy Tomb, walking side by side yet not speaking a word to each other. After that incident, the two were never the same again.


	2. Chapter 1: To War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Empire is attacking. Everyone is determined to protect the monastery. One save changes everything.

The next few weeks were a blur. Byleth hardly was able to focus during her lectures. She found herself not eating as much and losing sleep. A heavy feeling in her chest was off and on. All she could think about was getting her revenge.

  
She spent most of her free time with Dimitri to formulate a plan on how to take down Edelgard. The two became nearly inseparable on the days off. They were always found in the Knights Hall with scattered papers around them and countless broken weapons and training dummies in the training area. Yet despite their planning for revenge, they seemed like a normal couple at first.

Constantly reassuring and supporting each other, Byleth clinging to Dimitri’s free hand when not writing out their ideas and plans, and Dimitri kissing Byleth’s forehead when they part for the night. It was an odd sight indeed.

  
It was almost no secret in the Blue Lions house that Dimitri was fond of the professor, (Mainly because of Sylvain constantly making fun of him.) however, seeing the professor reciprocate the feelings was a little odd. Whatever the case was, they had their fair share of rumors flying around about them.  
Even the students were concerned. Not because of the sudden relationship that appeared but on their behavior. Annette noticed how tired and unfocused Byleth was and Dedue took note of the sudden drop in Dimitri’s health with him getting more migraines often and the obvious lack of sleep.  
Two weeks since the Holy Tomb incident and the Monastery had a troubling report come in from a scout. They said that an Imperial army lead by Edelgard herself was approaching fast. Byleth assembled her students to prepare them for the upcoming battle.

  
“Remember, this is a real army with intentions of war. This isn’t some group of thieves or bandits that are causing trouble. These soldiers will cut you down at all costs. Whatever you do, don’t. Act. Rashly.” Byleth lectured her students, knowing full and well that she would have to go against that rule to defeat Edelgard to prevent this war. She dismissed her students and they filed out of the classroom to personally prepare or to get at least a little rest before the Imperial Army is upon them.

  
Only Dimitri stayed. The two eyes met for a second, yet no one said anything for a moment. Dimitri finally broke the silence. “So, we’ll soon get our revenge. When we manage to kill her, our burdens will finally be lifted.” Dimitri said. Byleth nodded.

  
“I’ll be counting on you.” She said. “Remember the plan ok. If things go astray, then I’m afraid that we won’t get our revenge.”

  
Dimitri took her hands into his. “We will win this. As long as I have you by my side, everything will work out.” He reassured. The two walked out of the classroom and were prepared for anything. Well, almost anything.

  
  


The battle was pure chaos. Blood stained the sacred grounds, corps of both Knights of Serios and Imperial soldiers littered the place, and injured students were still fighting despite the fact that they were on the verge of falling. Everyone was determined to protect the monastery.

  
Annette, Felix, Ferdinand, Hilda, and Sylvain were defending Archbishop Rhea. Meanwhile, Ingrid along with Marianne, Raphael, Seteth, and Petra were trying to hold back the Death Knight. Ashe, Dedue, Caspar, Bernadetta, Lorenz, and the other two professors, Hanneman and Manuela defended the left side and preventing any more troops from getting any closer to the monastery gates. Lysetheia, Ignatz, Leonie, Claude, Dorothea, Flayn, and Linhardt were defending from the midlines with their ranged attacks.

In the midst of the fighting, Byleth and Dimitri were scanning the field for Edelgard. All they cared about was killing her. Even though Byleth was tasked with protecting the monastery, however, she hesitantly went against Rhea’s orders to protect the monastery so she could carry out her desires. Dimitri was killing anyone in their way. One stab with his lance, his victim fell. Byleth was using a steel bow to clear out enemies farther back.

  
Byleth let her guard down for a second to examine the battle for Edelgard. What she didn’t realize was that a solider was charging towards her. It wasn’t until it was too late that she noticed. The solider raised his sword high and lowered it down to deliver the fatal blow. Byleth instinctively pulled an arrow from her quiver to use for protection. The sword easily broke through the wooden arrow and slashed through Byleth’s torso. Luckily, the arrow softened the blow, but it was still a hard blow.  
Byleth stumbled and clutched her abdomen in pain. She let out a cry of pain. She slowly lifted her arm and saw it covered in blood. Byleth winced but had to push through the searing pain. She looked up and saw the solider preparing for another strike. She tried to reach for the Sword of the Creator that was sheathed at her left side, but the pain made her slightly slower. She braced for the attack that was imminent, but it never came.

  
Byleth heard a loud clank and looked up to see Dimitri protecting her. He easily knocked him down and mercilessly killed the solider. He turned to Byleth. “Are you ok?” He asked as he put his hands on her shoulders. Byleth didn’t want to admit it, but she wasn’t really ok. She nodded, but looked down.

  
Dimitri slowly lifted her arm covering her wound and gasped. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it was, but it was enough to put her out of commission for the rest of the battle. He needed her with him to defeat Edelgard. He looked around for a nearby healer and spotted Linhardt not too far away.

  
Without thinking, he picked up Byleth bridal style and ran quickly to Linhardt. Byleth was confused but started to feel light headed due to the large amount of blood she was started to loose. Dimitri approached Linhardt and said in between breaths. “Professor…. Hurt….. she needs…. healing…. _NOW_!” Putting heavy emphasis on now.

  
Linhardt yawned. “Ok, ok, fine. I can clearly see. No need to rush” He said, clearly annoyed. He started to heal the injured professor with light magic.

  
Dorothea, who was nearby heard Dimitri yell and was curious on what was going on. She gasped at the injured professor. “Oh goodness what happened?” She asked nervously. Dimitri crossed his arms without making eye contact, his eyes focused only on Byleth.

  
“One of those Imperial monsters tried to kill her.” He answered.

  
Linhardt finished up the spell he was casting. The cut was nothing more than a scabbed scar. There were still bloodstains on her armor and coat, but Byleth didn’t seem to care. “There you go. Please hurry up, it’s way past my nap time.” Linhardt said, yawning again. Dorothea slapped his back slightly.

  
“Dont say such selfish things Lin!” She reprimanded. Linhardt started to argue with her but Dimitri ignored them. He offered his hand to the professor and she took it without hesitation. The two ran off in the direction they came from to find Edelgard.

  
After ten long minutes of slicing through the endless stream of enemies, Dimitri finally spotted Edelgard in the distance. He grabbed Byleth’s hand and started leading her towards Edelgard. Byleth was a little startled by this sudden action. “Hey, wait, where are we going?” She asked.

  
Dimitri was laughing manically again like he did at the Holy Tomb incident. “The time has come! We’ll finally get our revenge!” He said. “Father, Step-Mother, Glenn, today is the day I finally avenge you by taking her head!”

  
Byleth, while happy to finally avenge the one behind her fathers murder, was more in control of her excitement for lack of a better term. Father, I promise you can rest easy knowing that the mastermind by your murder will be dead. She thought to herself.

  
The two quickly took down the battalion that was protecting her and finally confronted her. “Finally, we got you. It’s time to get what you deserved.” Dimitri said. Edelgard stood her ground. Once she noticed Byleth was there, she said something that enraged Byleth.

  
“I wish you were someone whose heart could be swayed by my words and deeds. If it were so, I would have done anything to make you my ally…” Edelgard said.

  
Byleth angrily gripped her sword. _Ally with her? What nonsense! After seeing what she has done to Dimitri and I, how could I ally with such a monster?_ Byleth thought. She unsheathed her sword while Dimitri readied his lance. “Now, let’s separate that sick head from your neck, shall we?” Dimitri said.

  
They charged at her recklessly. Even though Dimitri was at a weapon disadvantage, he did considerable damage to Edelgard’s armor. Byleth unleashed the Sword of the Creator and repeatedly slashed the emperor from a distance. Dimitri pinned Edelgard on the ground and was preparing to behead her with his lance.

  
However, before the deed could be done, Dimitri was hit with a blast of dark magic and was knocked away from Edelgard. Byleth used the chance to finish the job herself, but she too was blasted away. She landed next to Dimitri. They got back up as easily they were knocked down, but they found that their prey escaped.

  
Dimitri clenched his fists. “I won’t let her get away!” He charged back towards the monastery while Byleth stayed behind. She was looking for the person that ruined their chance for revenge. She scanned the area, but didn’t spot any dark mages. She hesitantly shook the thought away to catch up with Dimitri.

  
The battle was at a stalemate. No side was clearly winning or loosing. Byleth spotted Rhea watching the gruesome battle intently. There was something else on her face. Was it regret? Longing? “No, I will not allow another red canyon to happen.” Rhea said.

  
What happened next made Byleth freeze in her tracks. Rhea transformed into a dragon. It reminded Byleth of dragons of legend.

Draconic Rhea took off towards the crowd of Imperial soldiers that didn’t seem to stop streaming into the monastery grounds. She breathed fire and burnt many soldiers and even some of the buildings in the village down.

  
She didn’t seem to be having trouble until some imperial demonic beasts started to charge towards her. They overran her and Rhea was having trouble defending herself from the multitude of beasts.

  
Byleth didn’t know what to pursue. Should she follow Dimitri and kill Edelgard? Or should she protect Rhea? She picked the latter due to being closer to Rhea and having faith in Dimitri to catch up to their target.

  
Byleth charged towards the beasts and unleashed her whip-like sword and was able to knock down one of the beasts that was clinging onto Rhea. It was enough for Rhea to shake the other two off of her and to end then with her dragon claws.

  
The dragon turned around and saw Byleth was was immediately upset. “Why did you come here?” She asked angrily, yet a hint of calmness remained. Byleth looked down, not responding. She knew she did the right thing, but she never really liked getting yelled at by her boss.

  
But a maniac laugh caught both of them off guard. At first, Byleth thought it was Dimitri, but then she realized it didn’t sound like Dimitri at all. She turned around and saw someone oddly familiar. Byleth gasped. It was the dark mage that trapped her in the dark void where she had to fuse with Sothis. He was charging up a dark magic spell, one that was similar to the one that knocked both her and Dimitri from Edelgard’s grasp.

  
The mysterious mage unleashed the attack and it was sent flying through the air, aiming straight for Byleth. She used her sword to protect herself but it wasn’t enough. She was sent flying back towards a ravine behind her. _No, this can’t end here! Not like this! Father, I’m sorry!_ Byleth thought to herself.

  
Dimitri was looking around for Byleth once he realized she wasn’t behind her. A part of him feared the worse that Byleth fell in battle. Luckily, he spotted her staring at a….. dragon? Dimitri didn’t question it at the moment and instead hurried to the professors side.

  
The moment he saw the unknown mage attempting to attack Byleth, he rushed to her in hopes of saving her. “Byleth! NO!” He screamed as he ran as quickly as he could to the edge of the cliff that Byleth was flying back towards. Byleth was close to falling back behind the ravine but she was able to stop herself by digging her heels into the ground. She let out a sigh of relief, thinking that she survived, however, she spoke too soon.

  
The ground beneath her crumbled. _Now_ this _is the end,_ Byleth thought. She started to fall. She closed her eyes and started to scream. She barely had the strength to activate Divine Pulse. _Not here, this isn’t where its supposed to end._ But then, suddenly, the feeling of falling stoped. She didn’t hit the ground. She felt a strong grip on her arm.

  
Byleth looked up slowly and gasped. She saw Dimitri reaching onto her to save her. He was stretched as far as he could and his face had an expression that was a mix of worry, relief, and exhaustion. “Give me your other hand!” He shouted. Byleth attempted to reach her dangling arm to the prince. After a few tries missing due to how short her arm was, she finally grabbed onto Dimitri’s other hand. He pulled her up to safety and once she was back onto the ground, Dimitri instinctively pulled her in close.

  
“Thank the goddess that I was able to save you in time. If I wasn’t able to, I wouldn’t know what I would’ve done.” Dimitri said, sounding sad and fighting back tears. Byleth was trembling from the initial shock and the terrifying escape from death she just experienced.

  
After cooling down for a second, Byleth was looking around for Rhea, but she couldn’t spot her. That was a problem because for all she knew, Rhea was still in her dragon form. She felt a sudden and brief pang in her heart, which was weird since she didn’t have a heartbeat.

  
A slither of blue green that wasn’t there before caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She saw that a streak of her mint green hair turned back to her original blue green color. This startled her since her hair and eyes changed colors when she had to use with Sothis. What is going on? She asked herself.  
Dedue was approaching the two. “Urgent news Professor, Your Highness. We are being told by multiple head knights and Seteth to retreat.” Dedue announced.

  
Dimitri was disappointed. “But we haven’t killed her!” He protested.

  
“Your Highness, the emperor has fled too. This battle is a draw at best. We have to retreat back to Faerghus to discuss our next course of action.” Dedue countered.

  
Dimitri scowled but was comforted by Byleth. “It’s ok. Once we come up with a plan, we’ll kill her. I promise.” Byleth said.

  
Dimitri nodded. “Right as always Professor.” He got up and helped Byleth up as well. “Come. We’ll gather reinforcements back in the Kingdom and march straight to Enbarr to kill that woman.”

  
Dedue only nodded to Dimitri. Byleth stayed quiet. She did want to get revenge as quickly as possible, however she didn’t want to go unprepared. She felt like that this battle was just an omen on what was to come.


	3. Chapter 2: The Kingdom Capital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Blue Lions make their way to Fhirdiad to regroup before engaging in the war. Dimitri has something important he needs to say to Byleth.

The march to Fhirdiad was long and mostly uneventful. Only the students of the Blue Lions class that originated from the kingdom headed back for the other students that transferred classes headed to their own land to prepare before officially siding with the Church/Kingdom. They left immediately and didn’t set up camp until late in the night. When they set up camp, everyone with mild injuries were set to Mercedes tent to get healed up.

  
Byleth has a restless night. It wasn’t all due to the hard ground that she was forced to sleep on. She was used to that from her mercenary days. She was still heavily startled by her near death experience. What would’ve happened if Dimitri wasn’t there to save me? Would I be dead? Byleth shook off the bad thoughts and tried to get at least a little bit of sleep before the long march ahead of them.

  
Nothing really happened during their journey. There was one notable occasion about halfway through their journey where Sylvain tricked Dimitri to the near by river to get some fish for the dinner Dedue and Ashe were preparing at the same time the girls were washing up. He felt a like something was off when he approached the river. Then he looked up and instantly regretted trusting Sylvain.

  
The girls were bathing in the river. Once he saw this, he instantly turned around and bolted. Good thing most of the girls were underwater or facing the other direction so he both didn’t see things that shouldn’t have been seen and been caught. Unluckily for him, Ingrid caught a quick glimpse of the prince and growled under her breath “I’m going to give that skirt chaser a piece of my mind in tricking His Highness to do that.”

  
“What was that Ingrid?” Annette asked. Mercedes nodded in agreement and Byleth poked her head up from underwater in curiosity.

  
“Oh it was nothing. I’ll tell you guys when we finish up.” Ingrid said as she dunked herself underwater to at least rinse her hair.

  
It wasn’t long until the girls arrived back at camp and Ingrid filled them in on what happened. Mercedes was mortified beyond belief, Annette was confused, and Ingrid and Byleth had some scolding to do to two certain people.

  
When the two of them approached Sylvain, he was bursting out laughing while Dimitri was as red as a tomato, clearly embarrassed of his gullible behavior. “Sylvain, why would you trick His Highness to do such a thing?!” Ingrid scolded.

  
“Wait, how’d you know it was me who tricked Dimitri here?” He said in-between laughs.

  
Ingrid rolled her eyes. “Because His Highness would never do that on his own like that!” She continued.

  
Sylvain smirked. “You can’t prove it was me. For all we know His Highness here could’ve been curious to see a certain some-“ Sylvain said slyly but was cut off by Dimitri elbowing him in the stomach.

  
Byleth clearly wasn’t impressed. “Sylvain, don’t do antics like that again and Dimitri, please be careful on who you trust, especially if the information is coming from Sylvain.” She commanded her former students and walked into her own tent.

  
Dimitri got up and followed her. He entered her tent unannounced which clearly annoyed Byleth despite them being so close. “Profes- no, Byleth, I’m sorry for what I did. I swear I didn’t mean to walk in on you guys like that.” Dimitri apologized.

  
Byleth inhaled deeply. “Look, I believe you, however, we told all of you guys that we were taking a bath in the nearby river. You should’ve known that too.” Byleth said. Dimitri looked down shamefully.

  
“Y-you’re right Byleth…” Dimitri said. He looked back up at her. She turned around and they made eye contact. Dimitri looked like he wanted to tell her something.

  
“Uh, Dimitri, are you ok? You look like somethings on your mind.” Byleth asked worriedly.

  
Dimitri shook his head. “Oh, I’m alright. Just thinking” He replied. “There has been something Ive been meaning to ask you.”

Byleth tilted her head in curiosity. “And what’s that?”

  
Dimitri was about to ask her the burning question on his mind, however, he quickly felt nervous and doubtful and had to find another thing to ask. He scanned the tent and caught her hair with the blue green streak. “What exactly happened during the battle? You said the Goddess gave you her power and that explained the hair color change, but now your original color is returning. Is anything happening?”

  
Byleth sighed. “I don’t have a clue what is going on.” She took a long, deep breath, debating mentally whether or not to tell Dimitri about Sothis and their connection. “Look, it’s a long story and I promise to tell you later.” She said as she exited her tent with Dimitri close behind her.

  
Other than that occasion, nothing else happened. One by one, their friends left to their respective territories to tell their families about the current situation. They all agreed to meet back at the castle in Fhirdiad in one week time. By the time the remainder of the group reached Fhirdiad, the group only consisted of Dimitri, Byleth, and Dedue.  
Despite what everyone has told her about the turmoil that the kingdom was thrown into after the Tragedy of Duscur, everything in the capital looked normal. People going about their days, shoppers shopping in the local markets, and others even noticing the travelers and welcoming their prince back. Some where even curious on who Byleth was and even some people believed that he brought her home as a girlfriend.

  
The three approached the castle walls and the guards let them in the moment they saw the ones entering were the prince and his loyal retainer. They almost didn’t let Byleth in but when Dimitri explained who she was, the guards let her in.

  
The three of them entered the entrance hall where a tall, imposing figure that somewhat resembled Dimitri stood. Byleth could’ve mistaken him for the king if she didn’t know that Dimitri’s father was killed. “Uncle Rufus, we have returned.” Dimitri said.

  
The acting king turned around. He had an annoyed glare and looked like he was bothered by Dimitri interrupting his conversation with a kingdom knight. “What is it Dimitri? Cant you see I’m having a conversation?” Dimitri’s uncle asked clearly annoyed. “Wait, why are you back from the Officers Academy so soon?” He changed his tone from annoyance to confusion in an instant.

  
“Something happened in the monastery. I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard, but the imperial army sieged Garreg Mach. We had no choice but to retreat to regroup.” Dimitri explained. “Archbishop Rhea is missing, the Knights of Serios fled, and Dedue and I’s professor is joining us.”

  
Rufus raised an eyebrow. “Why the hell would you bring your professor?” He asked, sounding a little angry.

  
“Professor Byleth here grew up a mercenary and doesn’t really have a place she can go. Plus, she lost her father to an assassin not too long ago and I want to help her.” Dimitri continued. And someone dear to me. He added to himself. Better not say it out loud incase others were around.

  
Rufus gave a loud sigh and continued. “Well then, guess we have a civil war on our hands. I hope you learned enough at the Academy because since you are now of age, we need to get you on the throne as soon as possible.” He said before turning back to his conversation with the knight.

  
Dimitri sighed. “Pardon his rudeness. We haven’t really gotten along at all. Anyways, I can show you to where you’ll be staying. Dedue already has one so all we need to do is get one ready for you.” Dimitri said. Byleth nodded and the two of them, with Dedue following close behind, headed down a hallway that reached a large staircase that Byleth guessed that led to different living quarters.

As Dimitri was showing Byleth around, she was gawking in amazement at the structure and magnificence that the castle had to offer. It was much more grander than the structure at Garreg Mach. Fancy mosaic patterns and famous painting and portraits with velvet curtains to frame them covered the walls. A blue carpet with fancy gold trim stretched across the middle of the hallway. Slightly taller than normal dark cedar doors occasionally were spotted. Wall candles where also spread out on the walls to give the halls some light.

  
The three where about to turn a corner when Dimitri turned to Dedue. “Hey Dedue, I hope you don’t mind, but I need to talk to the professor. Alone.” He said. Dedue simply nodded and stood guard where he stood.  
Byleth was a little nervous but her fears washed away when Dimitri gave her a reassuring smile. They didn’t walk too far before Dimitri paused in front of a door that was a bit more intricately designed that the others. “Right here is a special room. It was the room my step mother lived in before she died. And now, I want you to stay here, for the time being. Granted it hasn’t been used at all in five years out of respect, but it has been cleaned regularly.” Dimitri said. He opened the door as soon as he finished and Byleth gasped in awe at the sight.

  
The room was huge and grand. A canopy bed was in the back of the room near a huge floor to ceiling window with lace curtains. One side of the room had a vanity and wardrobe. The opposite had a large bookshelf and writing desk. A beautiful chandelier hung from the high ceiling and made the room really bright.  
Byleth was speechless. All this for her? “I know this may be a little much, but I hope that you’ll find it comfortable.” Dimitri said. “And if you’ll need anything, my room is just next door.” Dimitri looked like he wanted to say something else, but held it in. “I’m going to let you get refreshed and into some clean clothes. You can meet me next door in my room when you’re done.” Dimitri continued.

  
Byleth nodded as he left the room to let her do her own thing. It wasn’t long before Byleth didn’t exactly know to do. She peeked her head outside to door and called out to Dimitri. “So, uh, what do I do….?”

  
Dimitri turned around and faced her. “Oh right. I’ll find a maid to help you if you give me a second.” He said as he headed back to fetch a maid to help Byleth.

It took longer than Byleth thought to get cleaned up. Once her bath was filled, the maid insisted that she was to help her which Byleth constantly denied due to her being a private person and would feel uneasy with someone she just met watch her bathe and “help” with it. Even after her bath, she was forced to wear a casual dress so her normal outfit can be washed. Byleth reluctantly complied, though wasn’t thrilled of the idea that she would have to try on more than one.

  
After the “torcher” of being constantly thrown into one dress after another, Byleth finally found one that was both comfortable enough for her. She was almost forced to put on makeup, however, Byleth lied about being slightly allergic to the type of makeup the maid was going to use.

  
Byleth made her way to Dimitri’s room which wasn’t very far due to being next door. She softly knocked on his door and was greeted by Dimitri in his lord outfit. He looked much more regal despite being the same outfit he sometimes wore in battle. Maybe it was the lighting or the fact that it finally had a deep cleaning since the last battle he wore it at the battle where Byleth fused with Sothis.

  
Byleth found herself blushing. She may have thought Dimitri looked too cute. However, she wasn’t the only one blushing. The moment Dimitri saw Byleth, he was instantly head over heals. Not that he wasn’t before. She looked incredibly beautiful in her dress, much like how she looked the day of the ball back during the Ethereal Moon. The two of them stared at one another, both of their faces red.

  
After a decent while of silence, Dimitri finally spoke up. “Byleth, you look so stunning. I hope the maid didn’t give you much trouble. I know how much you don’t really care for getting dressed up.” Dimitri said.

  
“Thank you, as for you, you look pretty dashing too.” Byleth replied. “And to answer your other question, it wasn’t so bad until the 4th dress and the attempt to put makeup on.”

Dimitri chuckled. “Yep, that’s the maids for you. I’ll make sure to tell them not to go too hard on you.” He said. “Well then, shall we head down then. I think Dedue and my uncle are waiting near the dinning hall.” Dimitri offered Byleth his arm and she linked hers with his and they continued on their way.

  
Even though the castle was huge, it didn’t take long for the two to reach the dining hall. Dedue was waiting for them, still in his Officers Academy uniform. He bowed when both approached him. “Your Highness, professor,” He greeted.

  
“Dedue, i’m no longer your professor technically. Please just call me Byleth.” Byleth said. Dedue only nodded in response.

  
The rest of the night was calm. At dinner, Byleth ate a lot. Not that was super surprising since her late father teased her a bunch about being a big eater. She also didn’t eat much in the past few days so that helped with her already huge appetite. After dinner, Byleth, Dimitri, and Dedue retired to a common room where they spent the next few hours talking like old friends, discussing strategies, and drinking tea Byleth prepared for them.

  
As they were getting tired around 11 at night, Dimitri asked Byleth for a moment of her time before they went to bed. They walked to Byleth’s temporary room. Dimitri was unusually quiet. Maybe he wanted to wait until they got to a more private setting before he asked what he wanted to ask. Whatever it was, Byleth hoped whatever he had to say wasn’t bad news.

  
Dimitri on the other hand was nervous. It’s not that what he wanted to say was bad, it was just he didn’t know exactly how to say it. All he wanted was to know how to deliver the message without sounding stupid or saying the wrong things.

  
 _Just suck it up and tell her already. You technically already confessed to her at the Goddess Tower and she clearly shows reciprocating feelings._ Dimitri thought to himself. When they finally entered Byleth’s room, Dimitri closed the door to allow more privacy. Byleth looked a little concerned, however, it melted away when Dimitri sat down next to her on the bed and put one of his arms around her.

  
“So, what did you want to ask me?” Byleth asked.

  
Dimitri cleared his throat. “I don’t even know where to start, but don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing I promise.” Dimitri started. “It’s just I don’t know how to word this so I’m going to get straight to the point: I’m in love with you.”


	4. Chapter 3: Beloved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dimitri admitted his feelings for Byleth. Byleth reciprocates those feelings. A wedding is planned but something is off...

Byleth didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t a surprise to her that Dimitri does love her, take what happened before and during the battle for Garreg Mach and even what has occurred during her time at the castle for example. The truth was, she also had feelings for him as well. However, these feelings didn’t start until the past few moons, especially after the Goddess Tower.

  
Dimitri put his free hand on Byleth’s left hand. “I would also love nothing more than to make you my queen.” He took out a small ring from his pocket. Byleth gasped. Now she was speechless. “I know it’s a lot to take in and I will give you as much time as you need. If you do not wish to accept it, I will face the truth yet will still be your friend.” Dimitri confessed.

  
Byleth slowly smiled. “I must admit this has caught me off guard.” Byleth admitted. “But, I confess that I also do love you.” Byleth quickly got up and walked to a dresser and opened the top drawer to retrieve a small bag. “My father said to give this ring to someone I love, just like he did to my mother.” She opened the pouch and a silver ring with purple accents fell onto her palm. “And I’ve been recently thinking to give this to you, though maybe after some more time has past, but in the state of things, I guess now wouldn’t be a bad time.”

  
Dimitri smiled and pulled Byleth close. “Right, then I guess we should exchange them.” He said before gingerly sliding his ring onto Byleth’s finger. Byleth did the same with Dimitri. “Tomorrow we’ll announce the engagement. However, like you said, with the state of things, the coronation will have to double as the wedding.” Dimitri continued.  
“I’m truly sorry we probably won’t have a grander wedding. Unless we put off the ceremony until after the war and do the legal matters now…? However, we don’t know how long the war will last. But if we can get enough forces together in time, we can potentially storm Enbarr soon and end this quick—“ Dimitri prattled before being interrupted by Byleth.

  
“Dimitri, it will be ok. I personally never wanted a grandiose wedding if I ever got married.” Byleth responded. She gave a weak reassuring smile. Dimitri sighed, nodded, and kissed Byleth on her forehead.

  
“Well then, get some rest since tomorrow is going to be a busy day.” He said. Before they parted, Byleth hugged Dimitri briefly. When they finally let go, they said goodnight and Byleth lied down in her bed. Despite her mind going all over the place, she fell asleep within minutes.

The sunlight streaming into Byleth’s room woke her up. Though she was awake, Byleth didn’t want to get up. That is, until a knock at the door caught her attention. She excitedly threw her covers up from over her and ran to the door, expecting to see Dimitri. To her dismay, it was only a maid, however, once she saw her regular clothes in the maids hands she was a little happier.

  
“Lady Byleth,” The maid greeted. _I’m never going to get used to that._ Byleth thought to herself. “Here’s your clothes that we cleaned up yesterday.” The maid handed Byleth her clothes and she graciously accepted them. “His Highness also wishes for your presence in the king’s study as soon as you’re able.” The maid finished. Byleth nodded, said goodbye, and closed her door to get dressed.

  
She felt way more comfortable in her regular clothing. It wasn’t as restricting as a dress in her opinion. After she changed, she hurriedly made her way to the study.

  
It wasn’t long until Byleth realized she had no clue where she would be going. She wandered around the halls, making it look like she knew where she was going. It took her a while, but she finally found herself in the king’s study.  
The door was slightly ajar when she approached it. She opened it slowly to find Dimitri standing in the room alone, his attention seemed focus on what Byleth could only assume what was paperwork.

  
She walked in unnoticed. As she got closer, she noticed Dimitri looked distant, confused, and even unhappy. Byleth wanted to cheer him up. Her stash of gifts for her students was most likely lost at the monastery, so finding him a small token of appreciation was out of the picture. She did the first thing that came to her mind. She snuck up behind Dimitri and hugged him from behind.

  
Dimitri was slightly startled but once he knew it was Byleth, he put a hand on her arms. “Good morning, beloved.” He said and he turned to face Byleth. Byleth blushed when he called her that. “Do you not like it? I can call you something else if you like.” Dimitri apologized.

  
Byleth shook her head. “Dimitri, it’s fine, you don’t have to apologize.” She said. “In fact, I really like it.” She slightly smiled, something that was a little rare, but has started to happen more often.

  
Dimitri smiled back. He loved Byleth’s smile. When he first told her that, that’s when Byleth (and the students that overheard) had a small hint that Dimitri liked her.

  
It was silent for a moment. Dimitri cleared his throat and turned his direction to the paperwork. “I apologize for not being able to ask you to meet me here myself. I’ve been busy since I woke up.” Dimitri began. “Especially since I’ll officially be king in a few days.”

  
Byleth just nodded, mostly because she was tired and didn’t know what to say in response. She glanced at the papers and read some of what they said. It didn’t take her long to find out what he was really planning.  
“Hmm, I didn’t know that being king required wedding planning.” She smirked.

  
“Well, I wanted some things to be a surprise, but here we are.” Dimitri said. He showed the papers to Byleth so she could read what they all said. He read off his ideas to her and let her pitch in her own. They didn’t realize how long they spent with wedding plans until Gilbert, a Kingdom knight that frequented Garreg Mach, came in to tell them that it was almost time for lunch.

  
The couple made their way down to the dinning hall, but were stopped by a person that Byleth didn’t recognize. “My, my, it seems the princeling has finally got himself a girlfriend.” The mysterious woman whispered just loud enough for the two to hear her. The woman smirked to herself as she walked away in the opposite direction as Dimitri and Byleth.  
  
Byleth looked up at Dimitri. “Who was that?” She asked.

  
“That’s Cornelia. She’s that mage that my father hired all those years ago.” Dimitri answered. “I advise staying away from her. I don’t know why, but something has always been off about her.”

  
Byleth nodded and looked down. She remembered Dimitri briefly talking about her back at their time at the academy. Cornelia was the one that helped irradiate a plague that swept through the Kingdom over two decades ago. Ever since she was the head mage employed by king and stayed so even after his death.

  
Byleth shook the thoughts away. She had more important things to worry about. Like the wedding ahead and even researching about what that draconic creature Rhea turned into before disappearing.

  
“Hey Dimitri, can you show me where the library is after lunch? I need to look up some things about what might’ve happened a few days ago back at the monastery.” Byleth said.

  
“Of course. I have some meetings to attend to afterwards so I’m afraid I can’t join you.” Dimitri replied.

  
Byleth nodded. “It’s ok, I shouldn’t be long aways.”

After lunch, Dimitri led Byleth to the library. She thanked him with a slight peck on the cheek, which made Dimitri get slightly flustered. Byleth didn’t know where to start. The library is much bigger than the one from the monastery. She didn’t even know how the books were organized.

  
She started to wander around, scanning the shelves for any potential history of Fódlan books. While she was scanning the back shelves, a sudden remark startled her.  
“Looking for something, m’lady?” The voice asked. Byleth was startled and looked around to see if anyone was there. A familiar face stepped out from behind the shadows. It was Cornelia.

  
“What do you want?” Byleth asked sounding slightly irritated.

  
“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Cornelia replied snidely.

  
Byleth rolled her eyes. “It’s none of your business.” She said, going back to her task of scanning the bookshelves.

  
“Well, if you’re going to be like that then I guess you’ll be spending the next few days just looking for the right book.”

  
Byleth groaned. As much as she hated to admit it, but Cornelia was right. Since Dimitri wasn’t currently with her, Byleth had no choice but to ask Cornelia for assistance. “Alright fine, just show me to the history section.” She mumbled.

  
“Alright, follow me then.”

  
Byleth followed Cornelia towards the upper deck of the library. They went to an open and cozy space that had a mini fireplace and a couch along with the 15 feet tall bookshelves.  
Cornelia pointed to the shelves to the left of the setup. “You’ll find anything history related here.” She said before departing. Byleth thought she was gone, however, Cornelia was still in the library, listening in to what Byleth has to say to herself.

  
Byleth scanned the shelves. All she could find was books on the history of the kingdom. Nothing about Fódlan as a whole. She mumbled the titles of the books to herself as she scanned them. As she was finishing up scanning the first shelf, an old dusty book caught her attention. She took the book off of the shelf. “The Agrarans.” Byleth read the title out-loud. Something told her that she shouldn’t be reading this, yet her curiosity got the best of her.

  
Before she could start to read the book, Cornelia snatched the book from her. “What the…?” Byleth said.

  
“You shouldn’t be seeing this.” Cornelia scowled. She walked away with the book. When she exited the library she made sure no one else was there before uttering “We need to get rid of the princeling and his girlfriend sooner than we thought.”

  
Byleth sat on one of the couches, bored out of her mind. Her only lead was gone. The doors flung open and Byleth ran over to the 2nd story ledge to see who it was. It was Dimitri. She excitedly ran down the stairs and into the arms of her fiancé.

  
“Did you really miss me that much?” Dimitri teased.

  
“Maybe.” Byleth responded. She broke away from the embrace slightly. “Something strange happened a few moments ago.”

  
Dimitri now looked both confused and worried. “What happened?” He asked.

  
“The mage from earlier found me in the library. She helped me find what I was looking for, but once I found a lead, she stole the book from me, saying that I shouldn’t be reading it, and left.” Byleth explained.

  
Dimitri was now slightly upset at Cornelia. Then again, there wasn’t a time where he wasn’t upset at her. He was always suspicious of her. “That’s strange. Why would she guide you to were it was, only to snatch it away in the end?” Dimitri said.

  
“I don’t know, but we have more important things to worry about.” Byleth said.

  
“Right you are.”

  
The two headed back to the King’s Study hand in hand to continue their busy plans.

It was now the end of the week. Luckily for the kingdom, nothing major in the war has happened. In the Alliance, however, it was a totally different story. Half of the major lords sided with the empire, while the other half is struggling to remain neutral. House Glouster, Lorenz’s house, is the leader of the pro-Empire sec of the Alliance while Claude von Regian tried to lead the neutral sec of the Alliance.  
At least today was a day that they could forget the war, even if it was for a day, for it was Dimitri and Byleth’s wedding day and the day were Dimitri will formally accent to the throne.  
Byleth was nonetheless nervous. This would be the first time all eyes in the kingdom would be on her. Unless you count the Battle of Eagle and Lion, but that was mostly a school affair. But the fact that she was going to get married to her love would be more than enough to wash her fears away.

  
She was in her room, surrounded by her closest friends. Annette, Mercedes, Ingrid, and even Flayn were buzzing around the room excitedly. Annette and Flayn where doing Byleth’s hair while Mercedes was adding the finishing touches on her dress. Ingrid on the other hand was trying to help, but didn’t really know how to since she never was into super girly stuff.

  
“Oh profes- I mean Byleth- His Highness is so lucky to have you!” Annette gushed as she was brushing Byleth’s hair.

  
“This is certainly a ray of hope during this bleak time.” Flayn said.

  
“Oh by the way, have you decided who you want to walk you down the aisle?” Mercedes asked.

  
Byleth’s expression dropped. She never thought about that since Jeralt died. She originally didn’t want anyone to do so since her father died, but she didn’t want to be alone either. But who should she choose?  
Mercedes noticed Byleth’s sudden expression change. “Oh, I’m sorry if I brought up something sensitive.” She apologized.

  
Byleth shook her head. “No it’s fine, I just didn’t know who. Jeralt was the only one I had for the most part of my life. Since he’s gone, I don’t have a father-like figure in my life.” Byleth trailed off towards the end of her sentence.

  
“What about Alois? He did train under your father for some time.” Annette blurted out. Ingrid glared at Annette. Annette then realized that she shouldn’t have said that. “Oops…”

  
“It’s fine Annette.” Byleth said. “In fact, that’s probably the next best thing.”

  
Mercedes finished with the finishing touches on Byleth’s dress. It was long and flowing, with blue accents and multiple skirt layers. There were no sleeves and the dress ended right above her chest. Flayn found a small tiara that looked similar to the one Lady Rhea wore and carefully put it on Byleth’s head.

  
“We’re all done!” Flayn excitedly said. Byleth marveled at her reflection in the mirror. She never knew she could look this beautiful. The girls really did do an amazing job.

  
“Thank you guys, you all are the best.” Byleth said. After the 4 girls got into their dresses, the 5 of them walked down to the Great Hall together. Byleth ran into Alois on the way and requested him to be her escort down the aisle in her father’s place. He happily obliged and everything was ready.

  
Byleth and Alois stood before the tall, closed doors to the Great Hall. Once a guard signaled them that it’s time, Byleth took a deep breath in and exhaled. “Though I cant exactly speak for Jeralt, I can tell that he would be proud of you today.” Alois said.

  
“Thank you, Alois. That means a lot to me right now.” Byleth replied. The music started and the doors opened. Even though not many people compared to other royal weddings were present, it was still very nerve-racking to have everyone’s eyes on her. Once she saw Dimitri at the end on the long aisle, all of her fears melted away.

  
Once she got the end, Dimitri took Byleth’s free hand in his and Alois let go of the other one and nodded in approval. For the first time in a while, Byleth smiled. Dimitri smiled back. However, the happiness subsided a little, for Byleth noticed someone was missing. “Are you alright beloved?” Dimitri asked.

  
“Yeah, I’m fine, I’ll tell you later.” Byleth answered. Rufus wasn’t present, and even though Dimitri told Byleth that the two of them weren’t close, at least going to the wedding would’ve been a decent action. Whatever the reasoning was, there was no way it was going to lead to something good.

  
Oh how right Byleth was.


	5. Chapter 4: Down the Path of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something isn’t right. Dimitri’s uncle Rufus is no where to be found and Byleth has a bad feeling about it all. That night, they are accused of his murder.

The night was supposed to be a happy time. Under normal circumstances, it would’ve been the best day of Byleth’s life. But one dark though loomed over her head the whole time. The fact that Rufus wasn’t present at the wedding/coronation was the first bad omen, but Byleth remembered that he wasn’t at dinner the previous night as well. Certainly something had happened.

  
Byleth’s sudden change in attitude didn’t go unnoticed. Dimitri was obviously the first to take note. “Byleth, would you please tell me what’s going on?” Dimitri asked. Byleth looked around to make sure no one was around. Luckily most everyone was out enjoying the reception that they wouldn’t notice if the young couple snuck out for a moment.

  
Byleth led Dimitri out to a secluded corner of the ballroom. “I don’t know if this means anything, but I didn’t see your uncle at the wedding, or even last night.” Byleth admitted.

  
Dimitri thought about it for a moment. “You’re right, we’ll keep an eye on things for now.” He said. “Come on, we have more important things to worry about.” He said as he extended a hand to his now wife and queen. Byleth hesitantly took it. It wasn’t out of a lack of love, it was out of a sense of worry. Who knows what this omen could be.

  
The rest of the night was a blur. As everyone started to leave, Byleth used this as an opportunity to escape the chaos. It didn’t take long for Dimitri to notice. Once he noted Byleth’s sudden absence, he excused himself from a conversation he was having with Margrave Gautier and Sylvain.  
Dimitri quickly caught up with Byleth.

“Beloved, where are you going?” He asked.

  
Byleth sighed. “I’m just heading back to my room. I just can’t shake off the bad feeling.” She answered. “Go back an enjoy the festivities without me, I’ll be fine.” Byleth slightly smiled, though it was a sad and distant one as it soon faded away.

  
Dimitri sighed. “Well, I’ll let you know when the festivities are over. You can come back whenever you feel like it too.” Dimitri said. He kissed one of her hands and Byleth then left to head to her room. Gods she wish Sothis was still with her. Without her, Byleth was totally lost.

Byleth couldn’t fall asleep. Her mind was racing. She gave up trying to sleep and instead started to read one of the books she found on the large bookshelf. It was well after midnight when she heard a knock at her door.  
“Come in.” She said, not even looking away from the book. The door opened slightly and Byleth glanced up a little. It was Dimitri. Byleth put her book down. Dimitri sat next to Byleth and she leaned in.

  
“I’m really worried Dimitri. Something isn’t right…” Byleth whispered. “First with Cornelia and now with your uncle, then there’s also the war we have to fight in.”

  
“I went looking for my uncle before I came in here and couldn’t find him, something is up.” Dimitri said. Byleth yawned and tried to say something but was stopped by Dimitri. “I know you want answers. I do too. But we need to get some rest. We’ll figure it out in the morning.” Dimitri said. Byleth hesitantly complied and curled into her bed. Dimitri kissed Byleth’s forehead before lying next to her.

  
Dimitri was about to doze off as much as he was able to when he heard something, or rather someone. He slightly opened his eyes and saw the ghosts that have been plaguing him for years. His father Lambert was glaring at him, Felix’s brother Glenn was annoyed, and his stepmother Patrica stood off to the side, yet very disappointed. Even Jeralt was present, giving him the look that father’s give when someone messes with their daughter.

  
“So you’re indulging in your personal pleasures when you haven’t even avenged us?” Lambert sneered.

  
“It’s not like that, I swear!” Dimitri whispered as he sat up, careful not to wake Byleth. “As soon as we discover what happened to Rufus, we will march straight to Enbarr and kill that woman.”

  
“Heh, if you truly cared about avenging us, you would’ve killed her there, but you cared more about your girlfriend more.” Glenn scoffed.

  
“I promise I will avenge you all. Just please give me a little bit more time.” Dimitri pleaded. The voices only got louder.

  
 _ **“Avenge us. Kill Edelgard. Bring us her head.”**_ The ghosts chanted, slowly getting louder. Dimitri tried to drown out the noise by covering his ears, but it was no use. He inched one of his hands closer to Byleth, hoping for that brief sense of comfort and relief that being around her usually gave him. Yet, somehow, the voices didn’t stop.

  
“If you can’t even please us, how are you going to be able to please a whole country?” Lambert berated.

  
“Is it so hard to kill her? You’ve had to kill countless times and now you can’t kill Edelgard?” Glenn said.

  
“You Blaiddyd’s were always too soft to rule, your father never should’ve taken the throne in the first place.” A new, yet familiar voice scowled. Dimitri looked up only to see the usual three ghosts of his parents and friend. How odd…

  
“Dimitri…?” A soft voice whispered that managed to break through the constant shouting of the ghosts. A warm hand slid into his own. Dimitri turned around to see a now awake and concerned Byleth. “Dimitri, are you alright?” She asked.

  
Dimitri sighed. “I’m…” He hesitated. He wishes he could just brush it off and say that he was, but this was his now wife he was talking to. He had to say at least something, right? “In all honesty, not really… the voices are especially loud tonight.”

  
Byleth brushed a strand of Dimitri’s hair out of his face so she could see him better. “I’m so sorry… Do you want or need to talk it out..?”

  
Dimitri opened his mouth to answer, but one of the voices spoke to him first. “You’re bringing my daughter into this? Some husband you are.” Jeralt grumbled. “She already has so much going for her and you’re just dumping your problems onto her.”

  
“I..I’m fine, but thanks for offering.” Dimitri sighed before trying to find a more comfortable position to at least get a little rest before the morning. Normally, he would’ve just stopped trying to get some rest and just started the day by training, yet, he didn’t want to worry Byleth more.

  
Byleth wanted to say something but decided to keep it to herself. It really was a long night and the next morning wasn’t going to be less busy. She laid back down but still kept her hand on Dimitri’s.

A few hours past and Dimitri was still awake. The ghosts wouldn’t shut up or even get quieter for him to at least rest his eyes. A light snore filled the room. He looked over his shoulder and saw Byleth peacefully sleeping. She was always a heavy sleeper, though he never knew why. Even Jeralt never knew why.  
Dimitri sat up. For the first time in a long time, possibly even ever, he felt _exhausted_ , which was strange since his crest supplied him with so much strength that he could go days without even sleeping. His eyelids felt sightly heavy and a lingering headache has gotten worse.

  
More whispers filled the room. Dimitri largely paid no attention to them as the best he could, but something felt different about these whispers. They were not the same that constantly haunted him. They sounded like it was coming from outside the door.

  
Byleth stirred in her sleep and her eyes slowly opened. “Dimitri? Is everything ok?” She asked tiredly followed by a yawn.

  
“Someone is outside the door.” Dimitri answered.

  
“Are you sure it’s not your inner demons talking to you again?” Byleth asked sounding very unsure at her husband’s answer.

  
Harsh one. Clearly her filter hasn’t kicked in yet. Dimitri dismissed the comment for now.

“Just.. listen closely, I swear it’s not the usual voices I hear.”

  
Byleth stayed silent to hear if Dimitri was right. Sure enough, faint whispers could be heard.

  
“And you are certain it’s them? I mean, they’re still relatively young to be punished this way.”

  
“Trust me. Why wouldn’t they kill him? I mean, the prince is still in a weak mental state after all that’s happened and his little girlfriend is known to be a vicious mercenary. Clearly those two have done it.” A slightly familiar, cold voice said.

  
Byleth gasped a little loudly than she should have. Was that Cornelia speaking? What where they even talking about? Was someone important killed?

  
“I heard something from their room. They’re probably awake.” Another voice said.

  
“You have the orders now.” The voice Byleth assumed was Cornelia’s said. The door was busted open by a few guards.

  
“What in the name of the goddess is going on?!” Dimitri demanded. “As king I demand you to-“ Dimitri was interrupted by guards roughly grabbing him and handcuffing him. They did the same to Byleth.

  
“Don’t you dare hurt her…” Dimitri said.

  
Cornelia laughed. “Acting so surprised? Admit you did it.” Cornelia said.

  
“Did what? We didn’t do anything!” Byleth said as she tried to fight back against the guards but was no use.

  
“Don’t act dumb. King Regent Rufus was killed yesterday morning and you two are the prime suspects.”

  
The color drained from Dimitri’s face. So that’s why Rufus mysteriously “disappeared”. It also explained the new voice he heard earlier, it wasn’t Glenn, it was _Rufus_.

  
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Byleth said. “There was no way we did it!”

  
“On the contrary, this dagger left at the scene of the crime proves otherwise.” Cornelia said as she pulled out a dagger. It wasn’t just any old dagger, it was _Byleth’s_ dagger.

  
Byleth gasped. They must’ve taken it when they washed her clothes. She didn’t even think to question it until later. Cornelia must’ve taken it to frame them.

  
“So you do recognize it.” Cornelia said. “Guards, take them to the dungeons. Their punishment will be decided once all the major lords convict them.”

  
Cornelia left the room while the guards handled Dimitri and Byleth. Dimitri was fighting back as much as he could due to the restraints. He hit the guards with his shoulders, however, they had a counter for his attacks. At least one of the guards was skilled enough in magic to use the spell Silence on both Byleth and Dimitri. The guard used the spell and Dimitri out like a light. Byleth on the other hand had a stronger magic tolerance, so she was only weakened.  
“Dimitri!” She called out.

  
“Seems this one ain’t out yet.” One guard said. “Quick, silence her now.”

  
Another guard keeping Byleth restrained pulled out a small dagger from his belt and stabbed Byleth on the side. Byleth let out a cry of pain. It wasn’t enough to horribly injure or kill her, but it was enough for her to fall and nearly pass out. Once she was easier to handle, the guards then escorted the young king and queen down to the dungeons before their sentence was decided.

The dungeons where a very unpleasant place to be in. There was next to no light aside from the occasional torch that lined the walls. Various bugs and rats ran around the cells and hallway. The farther one went into the dark and dingy hall, the worse the crimes of those locked inside the cells have committed. At the very end of the corridor was one occupied cell, reserved for anyone who even so much as attempted an assassination on the royal family or even the major nobles on the kingdom.

  
It just so happened to be the one Byleth and Dimitri where locked into.

  
Dimitri was the first to wake up from the spell that made him pass out. Byleth was still unconscious and looked like she was thrown haphazardly into the cell and restrained. Just seeing the sight made Dimitri want to kill Cornelia even more.

  
Dimitri tried to move as close to Byleth as he could due to the chains holding him down. He never seen her in such a vulnerable state. Byleth was supposed to be nearly unstoppable. She never has to retreat in battle, her defenses were strong, and her skills where unmatched. Even when she fainted during their battle in the sealed forest, Byleth still appeared strong. Seeing her so vulnerable felt so off.

  
Byleth started to stir awake. Her eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the darkness quickly. “Dimitri…?” She groaned. “Where are we?” Byleth tried to help herself up was slow due to her injury and the chains holding her down.

  
“We’re in the deepest parts of the dungeon. The cells here are reserved for those who committed the worst of crimes.” Dimitri said somberly.

  
“But we didn’t do anything!” Byleth said.

  
“I know, but to them, we did.”

  
“Them?” Byleth questioned.

  
Dimitri nodded. “In Faerghus, if the king and or the queen are accused of a major crime, all the major lords are the ones to decide whether or not they’re guilty.”

  
“But we have the Margrave and Duke on our sides, remember?” Byleth said. “Lord Rodrigue would never believe that we would’ve done this and Sylvain could convince his father the same thing!”

  
“2 is not enough.” Dimitri said. “While we do have them on our side, the others may not be easily convinced. Some houses are already loyal to the empire like house Rowe. They will certainly be more than content to get us out and have that witch in charge instead.”

  
Byleth’s face fell. This was not how she envisioned how this week would’ve gone. They can not let Edelgard win. “Damn it…” She whispered.

  
Dmitri didn’t even know what to say. Even he didn’t have much hope left. At least if he did die, he would be spending the last moments with his beloved.

  
They sat in silence, neither knowing what else to say. A few minutes later, the clacking of heels across the stone floor could be heard. Dimitri and Byleth knew exactly who it was, Cornelia.

  
Cornelia unlocked their cell door and let herself in before closing it again. “Looks like the king and his little queen have been defeated.” She said.

  
“What do you want?” Byleth asked angrily.

  
Cornelia chuckled. “The lords have spoken. You two are guilty of regicide and shall be sentenced to death.” Byleth gasped and Dimitri growled. “Don’t blame it on me, you saw this coming. Your punishment will be carried out at dawn tomorrow.” She said before departing and slamming the cell door closed.

  
Byleth bit her lip to prevent herself from letting out her newly found emotions. If these were their last hours together, should she tell Dimitri what she didn’t want to tell anyone?  
“Dimitri…” Byleth said.

  
Dimitri turned to her. He looked so broken and lost. Byleth wished she could’ve helped sooner, maybe then they wouldn’t be in this mess… “What is it?” Dimitri asked softly.

  
“If these are our last moments… I need to tell you something.” Byleth said. She took a deep breath. “About my past that I didn’t even know I had, about why I was connected to the goddess, and about my unwanted fate..”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that’s all I have done for now. I’ll update this as I go along. I have most of the chapter names and summary’s written out so it should be easier to write this going forward. Hope y’all enjoyed and have a great day!  
> ~The Artist Sylveon 🌸


	6. Chapter 5: Her Unwanted Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thinking that it’s their last moments, Byleth tells Dimitri the truth about herself. However, a familiar savior comes to bail them out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Another chapter posted quickly! That’s new! In case you guys don’t know, it took me nearly 5 months to write Chapter 4 (My Wattpad peeps would know.) but this one took me only less than a month :)  
> I’m proud of myself ok?   
> Anyways, let’s get to it!

What do you mean?” Dimitri asked. He knew something had to be up with her. It’s obvious that she wasn’t normal. Then again, _he_ wasn’t normal either.

“You might’ve guessed that something isn’t right with me. I never really caught on until a year ago.” Byleth said. “When my father was killed, I read his diary. There were secrets in there that I didn’t even know. The pieces all fell together. Why I was so emotionless, why Rhea took a liking to me so much, and my role in everything that has happened over the past few moons.

“If these are our last moments, you should have a right to know. I wanted to tell you and I planned to, however, this war and now..” She struggled to find the words to use for this situation. “This… predicament…” Even she wasn’t really confident with her answer. “It just got in the way of everything… and I’m sorry.”

Dimitri nodded in acknowledgment, signaling her to go on. Byleth took a deep breath. “I don’t even know where to start, but, here goes nothing. I’m not normal. Not even one bit. I didn’t even have a heartbeat.”

Dimitri slightly gasped. “You’re kidding…” He said.

Byleth shook her head. “I wish I was.” She reached out her hand for Dimitri’s. “Here, you can see for yourself.” Dimitri took her hand and Byleth put it up to where her heart was. Dimitri couldn’t feel anything. His eyes widened a little. Byleth could read his expression and nodded.

“I’m not even supposed to be alive. I was stillborn and if it wasn’t for my mother, I wouldn’t be here.” Byleth continued. “My father wrote down that Lady Rhea transferred the Crest Stone of Flames to me that kept me alive, but at the cost of my mother.” Tears formed in her eyes, but she kept them at bay.

“After my father found out what had happened, he used a fire to escape from the Monastery. I grew up a semi-normal life. I was a mercenary, obviously, however, I was emotionless. It wasn’t until I started having these strange dreams over and over again not long before I came to the monastery.

“Now, what I’m going to say will seem crazy. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t believe me, but” Byleth said. “The Goddess has been living in my conscious due to the crest stone implanted in me.”

Dimitri was speechless. It did give him some answers, but it also raised some more. If Byleth told him this back during their first few months at the Academy, he would’ve thought it was a joke, however, he knew it had to be true. Byleth had no reason to lie to him.

The event in the Sealed Forest also convinced him more. When she was trapped by the forbidden spell, she claimed that the only way she escaped the dark void was that the Goddess gifted her their power. That did explain the hair and eye color change, but there had to be something more that occurred. Despite killing Jeralt’s assassin, Byleth was even more down than she was after her father’s death. Did something else happen?

“I know it’s a shock to all take in at once, believe me.” Byleth continued. “And that’s not even the full story.”

“And most of this happened within the past twelve moons?” Dimitri asked.

Byleth nodded. “After the Goddess, Sothis, awakened, she was like a little voice in my head that would never shut up.” She explained. She laughed a little reminiscing on the memories. “Oh boy, did I hate it at first. But, as time past, I grew more accustomed to her voice and I considered her a friend.

“She scolded me when I wasn’t acting right or joked around a little too much, she comforted me when my father died, she gave me advice on how to lead, and she even gave me her power to turn back time briefly.”

“You’re able to turn back time?!” Dimitri slightly shouted in disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? We could’ve gone back and prevent this damned plot against us from unfolding!”

Byleth raised her hand to signal that she wasn’t finished. “That’s now how it works Dimitri.” Byleth explained. “I can only go back as late as a couple minutes and the farther I go, the more of a toll it takes on my body. As much as I wish I could go back and prevent this mess, by the time we woke up, I was way past the point where I could reverse time.”

“Oh, forgive my outburst. I’m sorry Byleth…” Dimitri apologized.

Byleth sighed and slumped down. “And even then, some events can’t be changed.” She tried to hold back the tears that have been forming in her eyes for the past few minutes.

“Like what?” Dimitri asked.

Byleth took a shaky breath. “When my father died, I tried so hard to reverse what had happened. I tried killing Kronya before she could attack my father, but Solon was there to thwart me. I tried everything, I kept going back, attempting to save my father. It was no use. He still died. Sothis said it was fate. Some events couldn’t be changed.

“This is why we _must_ win this war. So I don’t let my father die in vain. I will not stop until the organization that killed my father and all who stand with them are annihilated.”

“And you won’t be alone.” Dimitri said. “Like I said before: your enemies are my enemies. I will aid you in any way possible.”

Byleth wiped her tears off her face. “Thank you.” She said. “Back to my story, after my father was killed, as you know, I wanted nothing more than Kronya to die and rot in Hell. I finally understood what you felt with your desire for revenge. My mind and body moved on its own. But it was a trap all along. I was stuck in the dark void with Sothis. If it wasn’t for her… I wouldn’t be here.”

“So what exactly happened back there? All you really said was the goddess gifted you her powers.” Dimitri asked.

“As I was saying, we were trapped. Left to die. All in nothingness. It would have taken the power of a god to get us out.” Byleth continued. “Sothis had the power to help us escape, but since she didn’t really have her own body and was more of a weird spirit, she had to give me her powers.

“I was reluctant at first since I would be losing another one close to me so soon… but I had to accept it to return to our world. Sothis gave me her powers and I was able to escape, but at the cost of losing a friend.”

Byleth took one more deep breath. “With all that said, I cannot let you go down this path of revenge.” Her face was now filled with stern determination.

“Byleth, you of all people should know what that means, the ghosts would-“ Dimitri said but got interrupted.

“I don’t give a damn about the ghosts of the dead.” Byleth said sternly. “Look at what revenge led me to. I lost a friend close to me and I cannot lose another. You and the other Blue Lions are all I have left, and even so, we are in the middle of a war where anyone could get killed.

“Look, I know you hate Edelgard right now. I do too. I do wish to storm Enbarr and end this right now. But we can’t go ill-prepared. We shouldn’t make rash decisions.” Byleth said. She brought her legs to her chest and put her head down. “I just don’t want to loose another, let alone my husband.”

Dimitri was silent for a brief moment. He was formulating the right response in his head. “Byleth… I know you mean well, but I’m already too far down this path. I must continue down it.” Dimitri said. “But, I do promise to be a little more careful and considerate.”

Byleth slightly looked up. She was slightly disappointed but accepted Dimitri’s response. She looked back down. Seeing Byleth so hopeless made Dimitri’s heart break. He mentally cursed the chains that held him back from comforting his wife.

“There may not even be a future for us anyways since we’re sentenced to die in who knows how many hours.” Byleth sighed.

“We _will_ find a way out. I’m sure of it.” Dimitri said. He scanned around the small cell to find anything that could be used to escape.

A distant clanging sound could slightly be heard. Dimitri stopped what he was doing and Byleth tried to listen closely. As it got louder, it was evident that it was a guard of sort, but the armor sounded like it was heavier than normal.The helmeted figure stood at the cell door and unlocked it. There was something familiar about the large physique of the guard. They also carried a large sack that looked like it was stuffed full of clothing.

“Apologize for my late arrival, your majesties.” The guard said. They pulled down their helmet and revealed themselves to be none other than Dedue.

Both Byleth and Dimitri gasped. How did he get here?

“Dedue? How did you- what are you doing- When…?” Dimitri fumbled around with his words. He couldn’t even form sentences correctly.

“I do not have much time to explain.” Dedue said. He let the heavy sack down onto the ground and in front of Byleth and Dimitri. “I noticed you two weren’t at breakfast or anywhere in the castle so I asked a servant to get information.” Dedue said as he sorted through a key ring he most definitely stole from one of the on duty guards. He found the right one and started to unlock the shackles that held Byleth and Dimitri down.

“They said you were accused of murder and sent down here to await the verdict. It couldn’t be true, but once I heard that you were convicted guilty I had to act.” Dedue continued. Once he got Byleth and Dimitri out of their chains he slid the sack closer to them. “I found some extra pair of clothes for you Byleth in the laundry hall and for you Dimitri I found one of your father’s old sets of armor.”

Dimitri opened the bag to find 2 sets of clothing, one lighter, more suitable for training that was for Byleth, and thick black attire with heavy armor along with a huge blue cape with black and white fur. Towards the bottom was Byleth’s Sword of the Creator along with various other small weapons.

“You didn’t…” Byleth said to herself. She got up and hugged Dedue. “You are literally the best vassal anyone could have.”

“You do not have to thank me.” Dedue said once Byleth broke away and started to grab the clothing. “I will gladly lay down my life for his highness and now you, my queen.”

Byleth couldn’t help but get a little flustered when she was called the queen. She still couldn’t get used to it.

“I will wait outside for the two of you to get changed. I will be helping you guys escape.” Dedue said.

“Wait, but what if they find out?” Byleth asked.

“No worries. I already have a plan.” Dedue answered.

Dimitri and Byleth nodded and Dedue politely closed the cell door so they could change. It only just occurred to them that they would be changing clothes in each other’s presence… for the first time.

Dimitri was red as a tomato at the thought. “I, uh, I can face the other way if you want me to. F-for privacy r-reasons of course.” Dimitri stuttered.

Byleth shrugged as she was already pulling off her night shirt. “Only if you want.”

“R-right.” Dimitri said awkwardly. Gods that was embarrassing of him. She was his _wife_ for the Goddess’ sake. He moved right along into getting himself dressed in the armor while the voices only mocked him of his embarrassing comments.

It didn’t take them long to get dressed. Byleth was quick and was even able to tie her hair up in a ponytail before Dimitri even finished putting the armor on. Her change of clothes were dark grey with pink accents similar to her normal outfit. Her shoulders were exposed and the sleeves were short but her elbow and arm armor pads provided protection for them. She now wore solid black leggings under the short grey skirt with a small cape like longer part in the back. Her boots were the same and a blue sheath that held her sword wrapped around her waist.

Dimitri stopped for almost a solid minute once he saw her. He couldn’t help but marvel at her beauty. It wasn’t until Byleth asked him if he was ok did Dimitri realize what he was doing and went back to slipping his armor on.

After they were done, Dimitri knocked on the cell bars to signal Dedue. Dedue reopened the cell door and the two filed out. “Follow me. I’ll get you guys to the stables where some castle staff that are still loyal to you have prepared horses for the two of you to escape on.” Dedue explained. He started walking down the long hallway with Dimitri and Byleth trailing behind.

“But what about you?” Dimitri asked quietly.

“Like I said before, I am willing to lay down my life for my king and queen.” Dedue answered.

“You shouldn’t have to.” Byleth replied.  
  


“It is my sworn duty to protect his highness and now you, my queen.” Dedue continued. Byleth didn’t want to continue arguing so she didn’t verbally respond. “Anyways, you two need to stay quiet. We don’t need to be caught.”

“Relax Dedue, we’ll be fine.” Byleth said. However, they ran into the last person they hoped to see.

_Cornelia._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another cliffhanger because why not :3  
> Idk how to add images to stories in AO3 so when the next chapter is out, I would recommend going to Wattpad to see the drawing of Byleth in her AU outfit. 
> 
> Also, I will be changing the rating on this, kinda. Since I will be slowly transitioning into the War Phase, there will be way more violence. I will be adding that warning, but idk if I’ll actually change the rating, but later on I might depending on how violent I make it. 
> 
> Anyways, hope y’all enjoyed and have a great day!   
> ~The Artist Sylveon 🌸


End file.
